The Fall of Communism in Russia/Soviet Union Essay

1460 WordsOct 21st, 19996 Pages

Communism in the USSR was doomed from the onset. Communism was condemned due to lack of support from other nations, condemned due to corruption within its leadership, condemned due to the moral weakness of humanity, making what is perfect on paper, ineffective in the real world. The end of this system was very violent. It left one of the two most powerful nations in the world fearful of what was to come. <br><br>Communism can either be called a concept or system of society. In a society that follows the communist beliefs groups own the major resources and means of production, rather than a certain individual. In theory, Communism is to provide equal work, and benefits to all in a specific society. Communism is derived from many ancient…show more content…

This time period was known as the "Great Purge." Stalin systemically executed anyone who stood in his path. Stalin had millions of people arrested and killed. The government once again changed in its economic status. All private ownership was ended. Industrialization commenced, and the strength of the Soviet's Military significantly increased. The only downfall was agriculture production slowly diminished. This eventually led to food shortages. During this time period the Second World War broke out and drained most of what was left of the already impoverished state. However after the war, national unity was improved and the Soviet Union once again became a super power of the world. (" Stalin and World War II," Microsoft(R) Encarta(R) 99 Encyclopedia) <br><br>Stalin's death in 1953 marked the end of the supreme power for the head of the Soviet party. Stalin's successor, Nikita Khrushev, marked the beginning of the fall of Communism in the Soviet Union. Khrushev became the first Secretary of the Communists party ("Nikita Khrushev," Microsoft(R) Encarta(R) 98 Encyclopedia). He believed Stalin's actions were unnecessary and harmful to the process of moving the Socialist government to its goal of complete Communism. During his period of control the public was given some say in the government. A new policy of economy was brought in known as "New Course." It helped to balance the agriculture and increase food production so there were less food

After the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991, the world watched Russia closely as the largest country remaining from the former superpower built itself into a democracy. However, within a short amount of time, Russia has slipped into competitive authoritarianism, giving much of the governmental power to its current president, Vladimir Putin. In contrast, another semi-presidential system, the government of France, is a strong democracy. France’s government has been largely successful since the creation…

command system, which is also described as Marxism, socialism, or communism, is both a political and economic philosophy. In a communist economy, the government owns most of the firms, subsequently controlling production and allocation of resources. One of the most well-known and well-documented cases of a communist government took place in the Soviet Union, beginning in 1917 and eventually falling in 1992. Idealistically, communism eliminates social classism and provides equal work for all in a…

Communism: "A scheme of equalizing the social conditions of life;
specifically, a scheme which contemplates the abolition of
inequalities in the possession of property, as by distributing all
wealth equally to all, or by holding all wealth in common for the
equal use and advantage of all. " (K. Marx)
What Karl Marx had set out in his Communist Manifesto as guide lines
for the governing of a state was proved to work to the contrary of its
good intentions when applied…

While it is difficult to argue that Russia is not unique, it is also inappropriate to say that Russia was solely influenced by outside forces. For example, Russia remained a backwards feudal state, a state where the nobility owned land and serfs stayed on the land in exchange for labor and produce, while other Western nations were progressing. This would not necessarily point to saying that Russia is unique in the sense that it lacked progression, but it did speak to how little influence it had received…

Gorbachev and the fall of the Soviet Union
The Soviet Union was an empire centered in Moscow, Russia. The Soviet Union consisted of more than just Russia, it consisted of fifteen sovereign republics, and its formal title was the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. In addition to the 15 sovereign republics that comprised the Soviet Union after World War II there was also the Soviet Outer Empire. The Soviet Union Outer Empire was commonly referred to as the Soviet Bloc, which consisted of East Germany…

From the Beginning of the Soviet Union, the West opposed the communist nation ideologically, the capitalist West feared communism. Communism was the reason that the Soviet Union was not compatible with the Western capitalist nations. With the end of the Soviet Union and the birth of capitalism in Russia, the West believed that their eastern problem was over, although as time would tell this assumption would be incorrect. Over the next decade, Russia would exert their power over boarding nations trying…

Relations between China and Russia dramatically improved after the termination of the Soviet Union and the formation of the Russian Federation in 1991. The two countries share a long land border, which was defined in 1991, and they signed a Treaty of Good-Neighborliness and Friendly Cooperation in 2001.
With the end of the Soviet Union following the end of the Cold War, Beijing’s relationship with Moscow improved amid massive changes in the relative power between the two former adversaries. China…

average case of the hiccups, these hiccups were called communism.
Following the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991, most post-Soviet satellite states began making the transition to become liberal democracies. However, the transition from communist governments to democratic governments was not necessarily a smooth one for most of the Eastern European countries. Decades of oppressive Soviet rule and deep-rooted communist parties made ties to the Soviet Union especially hard to cut. Ukraine, in particular,…

The fall of the Soviet Union
Before one can understand the fall of the Soviet Union, he has to know how the nation came into being and the leaders, and the location of the country and the time period of its reign. How did the Soviet Union come into existence? Through the 1900’s the Soviet Union was entangled in a vast number of conflicts all because they wanted to spread communism. Subsequently, the rampant spread of communism and Soviet ideals had an impact in the First World War, Second World…

On December 26, 1991, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics was officially dissolved. While the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 was a sign that the Cold War was soon to be over, the breakup of the Soviet Union truly symbolised its end. After a bitter era of global fighting between capitalism and communism, each led by the United States and the USSR respectively, it appeared that, for better or for worse, capitalism had prevailed. Today, it looks like this indeed was the case. The People’s Republic…